Old Kaskaskia eBook

She said nothing, and Rice also remained in silence.
When he spoke again, it was in the tone of dry statement
which he used for presenting cases in court.

“My pistols have hair triggers and go off at
a touch. I had a political difference with a
gentleman some time ago, and this Dr. Dunlap acted
as his second. We were standing ready, but before
the word was given, and while the pistol hung down
in my hand, it went off, and the ball struck the ground
at my feet. Then Dr. Dunlap insisted I had had
my shot, and must stand still and be fired at without
firing again. His anxiety to have me shot was
so plain that my opponent refused to fire, and we made
up our difference. That’s the Dr. Dunlap
we have here in the Territory, whatever he may have
been in England.”

Rice hurried on with her, his motherless little sister,
who had been left with kinspeople in Wales because
she was too delicate to bear the hardships of the
family transplanting. He blamed himself for her
exposure and prostration, and held her tenderly, whispering,—­

“Mareea-bach!”

She tried to answer the Welsh caressing name, but
her throat gurgled and a warm stream ran out of her
mouth, and he knew it was blood.

PART SECOND.

A FIELD DAY.

The gallery pillars of the Sauciers’ house hung
full of fragrant vines. The double doors stood
hospitably wide, but no one was visible through the
extent of hall, though the sound of harp music filled
it, coming from a large darkened room. Angelique
was playing for her great-grand-aunt Angelique, the
despot of the Saucier family.

This survivor of a past century had her treasures
displayed and her throne set up in the state apartment
of the house. The Sauciers contented themselves
with a smaller drawing-room across the hall. Her
throne was a vast valanced, canopied, gilded bed, decorated
with down sacks in chintz covers to keep her warm,
high pillows set up as a background for her, and a
little pillow for every bone which might make a dint
in the feather bed. Another such piece of furniture
was not to be found in the Territory. It and
her ebony chairs, her claw-footed tables, her harp
and dower chest, had come with her from France.
The harp alone she had already given to Angelique,
who was to inherit all she owned.

From childhood the girl had been this aged woman’s
constant attendant. Some days the black servants
took their orders at the door, and nobody but Angelique
was allowed to enter that room. Then the tyrant
would unbend, and receive family and neighborhood
visits. Though she had lived a spinster’s
life, she herself taught Angelique to call her “tante-gra’mere,”
and this absurd mixture of names had been taken up
by the entire family. So tight a grip did she
hold on the growing child that Angelique was educated
by half-days at the convent; she never had an entire
day free from tante-gra’mere. Madame Saucier
often rose against such absorption, and craved the
privilege of taking the girl’s place.